Sandals Grande Antigua

Jorge Escalona

My wife and I just got back, and we had a lovely time at this Sandals resort. The staff was super friendly to us and always greeted us very courteous. The beach was awesome, and so were the pools. We never had any trouble making reservations for dinner in the restaurants that required them. The vendors at the beach were friendly and polite and easy to talk to if you treated them with a friendly smile. Overall, this was a awesome vacation for us that we would have no problems repeating.

Brian Cline

Short drive from the airport to the resort. Overall, I loved the resort. The rooms are a little outdated and in need of updating, which is on the road map for Sandals in the near future. The overall service was awesome. Everyone was quite friendly and helpful. I feel the restaurant staff was a little less than attentive at most places. Pool activities were awesome, and the staff was a lot of fun. Pool bar needed a couple more servers as it was always busy, but they were great getting drinks out as fast as they could. The water was beautiful, and beaches were amazing. We did get bothered some by merchants since the beach was public, but they were not overly pushy. It was HOT. It's probably the hottest trip I've ever taken, so sunscreen is a must! I'm not a huge fan of the Antigua airport. We had to get there 3 hours before our flight, and it's not cooled very well. There are only 2 restaurants in the airport and they aren't great. I would definitely suggest taking a trip to Antigua. It was a great time!

Tami Schuemann

Where is the customer experience at this resort??? We had our first stay with Sandals at The Grand in Saint Lucia, they set the bar high!!!! This is our third time staying with Sandals and at this resort, they do not care about your stay or your experience. We have one more trip already booked with Sandals, after that we are booking with another all inclusive resort They took one photo during our 7 day stay and were not advocating with us or any of the people we met while there to schedule another stay at one of their resorts. They just had no interest in the guests

V W

Villa with private pool and hot tub was amazing. I dont want to go to a public pool ever again. Butler service was outstanding. Resort was beautiful and safe. Food was average and all inclusive meals was over-priced, especially if you do not drink alcohol.

Elizabeth Holihan

I just returned from 5 days at this resort. The beaches are beautiful and Antigua is a gorgeous country, but I don't think I'll return to Sandals. This was my first time at a Sandals - I was there for a wedding, and that event was very nice, but I don't think Sandals is the resort for us. It's regularly 88 degrees Fahrenheit there, and it's incredibly difficult to get water at Sandals. There's a few small waters in your room, but otherwise you have to be seated at a restaurant to get water. For a place this warm (and with many drinking all day), it would be wise to have water fountains/ jugs of cold water available. I went up to the bar near reception at one point asking for water and the staff seemed annoyed. It took 10 minutes and asking 2 bartenders to give me a cup of water - the one jug of water they have at that bar was regularly empty. I would estimate 60% of the staff were very friendly, and 40% seemed to hate that you asked them for anything. This was really off-putting. I asked other guests about their experiences, as maybe I was the problem, and many other people felt similarly. Some staff really were rude. At one point, we went up to Barefoot restaurant around 11:15 AM and asked to be seated; we were told they weren't ready to serve yet, but had 2 tables already seated? Food - The restaurants we went to were just okay; the buffet always had flies buzzing around it. They state they have 11 restaurants on site, but calling some of these spots "restaurants" is a bit of a stretch - some of them are pretty basic, sit-down isn't available and they are not really for meals. My husband and I couldn't get into Soy/ Kimono unfortunately, as it was closed 2 of the 5 days we were there, and couldn't get reservations for the others. When we checked in, we were told reservations were encouraged but not required, but then that same afternoon, when I called to get reservations, they said Eleanor's and Soy/Kimono were booked 5 days out! There really seems a problem with this system. If we cannot book before we arrive, shorter stay guests don't have the opportunity to go to the better restaurants. Though my husband and I primarily ate just us, we were there with a large group and when we did try to do a group dinner, they can't really manage that either. Again, a frustration because some of the restaurants (like Mario's) don't take reservations but then they couldn't accommodate a group the night we wanted to do a group dinner (even though it seemed half the restaurant tables were empty). Lastly about food - I wish breakfast options opened before 7:30, especially since some of the activities (like diving) required us to be at the water sports area by 7:45/8 AM. There didn't seem to be any options for grab and go breakfast either. My last issue with Sandals was with security - we checked in on Wednesday, and our room wasn't ready. No problem, we went to sit on the beach until 3PM. At 3:15, we left the beach to head back to reception to check in. Security on the beach asked us for our room # but we didn't have one yet. The guard then questioned us about why we were using the facilities yet. The website even states that the whole resort is open to us as soon as we arrive and through when we leave, even if our room isn't ready for us. The guard was extremely rude, making it seem like we were breaking rules. The positives: The beach and pools always had plenty of chairs available. At the big pool bar, the servers there were quick and attentive even when there were lots of people. The rooms were cleaned well, but they didn't cool down to a level that was really comfortable for us. As newer divers, we enjoyed our scuba diving trips, especially the second day (Scuba Instructor Travis was great and very calm which was great for me) when the conditions were much calmer. We were able to eat at Eleanor's for breakfast one of the days and that was a good meal (though on the check-in info, it states Eleanor's is open daily for breakfast and it was closed for breakfast on Sunday which was a disappointment).